CLEARING THE SNOW: Denver has never before had so much snow sitting on the ground for so long (not in my lifetime, anyway). Snow here usually melts and goes away in a few days. I hope we will learn lessons from this snowstorm. We still have neighborhood streets everywhere that are piled with snow causing nearly impossible driving. After no plowing, the streets have become thick rutted ice. Only the highways and main streets are in good condition, and even the main streets still have too much snow to get to the sidewalks and bus stops. The individual cities are responsible for clearing the streets around bus stops, individual property owners are responsible for the sidewalks to the bus stops.

My proposal is to have contractors (as the city does now), but have little contractors with little plows and snow blowers to do the neighborhoods; have them on call to start plowing whenever the snow hits 3 or 4 inches or so. It might have to go through the Department of Transportation rather than through the local governments. Use the big equipment to haul away the snow if necessary.

Give these contractors (and any big equipment doing major streets) instructions to:

1. Do not block any cars.
2. Do not block any bus stops (50 feet clearance would be nice).
3. Do not block any driveways.
4. Do not block any sidewalks.
5. Do not block any sewer grates.

Of course if lots of cars are parked along a street it may not be possible to keep clear of everything, but even the act of moving the snow when only a few inches have fallen will help to keep the piles down. If these contractors have time within their contract, they could also clear sidewalks, especially for the elderly and disabled.